RED WING, Minn. -- Police have determined two of three dead babies found in the same stretch of the Mississippi River in Minnesota in the past eight years had the same mother.

Authorities said DNA evidence has revealed the white newborn girl and boy infants found in 1999 and 2003 in the river in Goodhue County were born alive and were put into the river within hours, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday.

The unrelated third baby, a girl whose body was found three months ago, likely was of American Indian descent, authorities said.

Goodhue County Sheriff Dean Albers is asking for anyone with knowledge about the babies to come forward.

"Shortly after these children were born, they were thrown away -- thrown into the Mississippi River, where they died cold and alone," Albers said. "What we have here with the first two is cold-blooded murder. We cannot let this happen again."